The Weight of Blood (85)

Michael: Tanya, can you describe what’s in the photo for us?

Tanya: So in the photo, you have, I think, Kenny Scott, who was her date, on stage in a crown. Then you have Maddy. It looks like the bucket was just dumped. She’s completely covered in white paint, head to toe—hair, face, arms, shoulders. The spotlight is in her eyes.

Becky: Everyone at Sal’s saw the picture. People were laughing. Some even left to go up to prom to see for themselves.

Tanya: Were you laughing?

Becky: No. I think I was shocked someone would do something so . . . messed up. Kat had texted me earlier that night, saying that she thought it was weird that Charlotte and Chris were at the All-Together prom. Later, when everyone put the story together, it made sense that they were in on it.

Tanya: What happened next?

Becky: I don’t know, maybe twenty minutes later we heard the explosion, and then the power went out. The whole town went dark. Everyone started to panic and filed out onto the street. Some kids headed over to the country club to see what was going on, while the rest of us waited. I kept trying to call Kat, but it was like my phone just stopped working. That’s when the siren from the plant went off. I’d never ever heard it at night before. I started freaking out, but I also felt really . . . sick. Just nauseous and dizzy—my head was killing me.

The cars parked on Main Street started going berserk, alarms and lights blinking, windshield wipers clicking all on their own . . . That’s when I saw Maddy. She was walking in the middle of the road, looking just like the picture Kat sent me. And she was kinda . . . glowing. Don’t know how else to describe it. She looked like a faded glow-in-the-dark sticker. Her eyes were real wide, not even blinking. She stopped in front of her dad’s store and just stared at it. Some power cords came down, and poof! The building caught on fire. Then the next building. No one moved, all so stunned, I guess. When she was closer, I could see she wasn’t just covered in paint but also in blood. It was all mixed together. And her hair, it was . . . huge.

Sal ran out in the street with a bat trying to, I guess, stop her. But Maddy . . . all she did was flick her wrist and he flew into the air, landing on a truck windshield. Everyone started screaming and running. Some people got in their cars, but it was like they had no control of them, and they were running over the other kids before slamming into storefronts or straight into brick walls. The fire hydrants all came loose and were spraying people. I tried to run, but something blew and I hit my head on a mailbox. When I came to, the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see what was in front of me. All of Main Street was on fire, bodies everywhere. The only reason I’m alive is because Officer Sawyer was driving by, looking white as a ghost. He stopped long enough for me to crawl into the passenger seat then booked it straight outta town, babbling about everyone being dead. I was having trouble staying awake and was so out of it that I didn’t even realize someone was in the back seat. Honestly, I thought I imagined it all, or it was just some crazy nightmare until I woke up in the hospital.

Michael: And your sister?

Becky: She died. In the accident. They say Maddy didn’t kill her, like she killed everyone else. Just wrong place at the wrong time. But it’s hard . . . really hard to keep that in mind. She was my best friend.

FROM THE SWORN TESTIMONY OF OFFICER ERIC SAWYER

You believe Jesus walked on water, but you can’t believe Maddy Washington made cars fly with her hands? You bunch of hypocrites! I was there, okay? I know what I saw!

When Maddy walked out of the country club, I ran in there quick as I could and . . . Jesus, it was a bloodbath. It was as if she had taken a shoe to some blood-filled mosquitoes. Limbs cast aside like doll parts, the floor . . . just a carpet of hair, guts, and satin. I couldn’t tell who from who or what from what. The ceiling started caving in, and I tried to do a quick search for any survivors. Only found one, right before the train ran off the tracks and the whole city went dark.

I didn’t even see the Lecter boy walk out. The fact that he survived . . . well, God bless him.

May 31, 2014

Inside the Barn, the few remaining students who survived the chaos huddled in the dark, tending to each other’s wounds. Outside, the world seemed quiet—no more screaming. Which meant anyone who wasn’t with them was more than likely dead. The fires spread around them, crawling closer to the Barn. They needed to move, but where could they go?

On the stage, Wendy filled the crystal punch bowl with warm water, using a torn tablecloth to gently clean Kenny’s face. Kali propped a red pillow, the one meant to hold a crown, under his neck, applying pressure to the gash on his forehead. She sobbed, trying for the tenth time to dial 911, then home, in that order.

“Shit,” she muttered, throwing the phone aside.

Breath rushed out Kenny’s nose as he startled awake with a cough, arm flinging.

“Kenny! Kenny,” Kali sobbed, trying to keep him still. “You’re okay.”

“Kenny,” Wendy said, wiping his face, her own tears surfacing. “Thank God you’re alright.”

“Wh-where are we?” he moaned, then stiffened. “Where’s Maddy?”

Wendy’s stomach hardened. “Maddy?”

“Yeah. Did something happen to her?” he asked, trying to sit up, taking in the room with the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut.

“No,” she spat. “She happened to us!”